Sucker Punch
by snarkysweetness
Summary: After some unsettling news, August tries to push aside his feelings to help Henry deal with his own insecurities concerning Neal; in the process, Henry helps him see reason.


**Title: **Sucker Punch  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Characters:** August, Emma, & Henry; Emma/August with mentions to Geppetto/Blue & Regina/Neal  
**Summary:** After some unsettling news, August tries to push aside his feelings to help Henry deal with his own insecurities concerning Neal; in the process, Henry helps him see reason.  
**Warnings:** Brief language.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes:** I am having a lot of August feels lately and where August feels lie, August/Henry feels follow.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Emma whispered. She rested her chin on his shoulder and snaked her slender arms around his torso.

August lay on his side, facing away from her, and did his best to remain aloof. He loved Emma but he didn't want her to know how upset he was by all of this. He was supposed to be her rock, not the other way around. He didn't deserve to have her take care of him, not after he'd abandoned her all of those years ago. She may have forgiven him, but he'd never forgive himself.

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Baby," she whispered but he shook his head.

"I'm happy for them."

"'Nocchio," she pressed in a loving tone. "It's okay to not be. If it was my parents, I don't think I'd be able to handle it. And I can't imagine how Henry would feel if it was us."

August closed his eyes and counted to ten while taking even breaths. Once he was sure he could face her, he turned onto his back and ran a hand through her curls.

"Ems, I'm fine, promise. All my father ever wanted was a family, how could I not want him to have that?"

"Because you didn't get to spend your lives together and even though they're your parents you weren't exactly conceived in the normal sense so it would be understandable if you were having mixed feelings about all of this."

August brought his hand to the back of her head and drew her into a languid kiss. He broke away after a few minutes and cupped her cheek before pulling her into his arms.

"Cara Mia, te lo prometto; I'm happy for them. You don't have to worry about me."

"But if you decide you aren't fine, you know you can talk to me about it, right?"

He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I don't know who else I would talk to about it, amore mia."

Truth be told, when his parents had sat him down to tell him that Blue was pregnant he'd felt nothing short of sucker punched. It had been difficult enough to wrap his mind around the fact that his father and the woman who was basically his mother were in a relationship but now they were having a child? The whole image of them having sex aside, there was the fact that they'd made a _child_. Who was _theirs_; truly theirs. Biologically; not magically.

Where did that leave August?

He'd been carved from a tree, he wasn't even really human. He hadn't been born; he'd been made and brought to life through magic. Sure, they were his parents in the sense that they'd made him and loved him, but that was it.

They were going to have a child that was completely theirs who they got to raise from birth; he was nothing more than their little wooden experiment. He'd spent less than a year with his father before being sent to this world.

Could he even really call himself Geppetto's son?

The next morning he sat on their small porch with a cup of coffee, pondering his plight.

It seemed selfish to feel so hurt by the situation; he wanted to be happy for them but he felt empty inside. He was nothing more than someone who hadn't been meant to exist. It was bad enough knowing that he wasn't good enough for Emma or Henry, but now?

At least before he knew he was everything to his father.

Now he didn't even have that.

August groaned and closed his eyes.

He needed to get over himself.

He felt his weight shift as someone joined him on the small bench and he opened his eyes to find Henry staring up at him with sad eyes. August set the coffee mug down and turned to face him, concerned.

"Hey, buddy, what's going on?"

"Will you and mom love me less if you have your own baby?"

August was taken aback. Was there something Emma needed to tell him?

"Kid, why would you think that? Of course we won't. Plus, your mom and I aren't going to have kids anytime soon, if ever." Hell, August didn't even know if he was capable of reproducing.

"I heard mom and grandma talking about how they didn't know how I would take it if it happened."

Oh, right, this was about August's situation.

"Henry, your mom's not pregnant, so you have nothing to worry about. And hey, even if she was, you're our kid and we love you. Nothing would ever change that." August assured as he gave Henry a half-hug.

"But I'm not really your kid," Henry whispered.

"Says who?"

"August-" Henry started, reminding August of Emma.

"I wish I was your biological father, Henry, I truly do. But just because I'm not doesn't mean I don't love you. Nor does it mean you're any less my son. You're lucky, kid; you have four parents who all love you. Some kids don't even get one."

"My mom and Neal are having a baby." Henry said after a long moment.

_What the-_

Jealousy roared in August's chest as the desire to kill Neal took him over.

"She's what?"

"Regina told me this morning," Henry replied grumpily.

Regina. Not Emma. Regina.

He sighed in relief as he remembered that Regina and Neal were fuck-buddies.

He took a moment to compose himself. Emma loved him; of course she wouldn't…he shook off the fear. Of course she'd never do that to him, she loved him enough to move in with him and allow him to be a part of Henry's life, so he had nothing to worry about on the Neal front.

"Oh um…well, that's good, right?"

"She only adopted me because she couldn't have her own kid, because of the curse, and Neal isn't really my dad-"

"Kid, that's not fair, it wasn't Neal's fault-"

"Do you think he would have stayed? With mom, I mean? And not given me up? Come on, August, I'm twelve, I'm not stupid."

August couldn't lie to Henry, ever, so he just sighed.

"Kid, we can't change the past. I messed up, Emma messed up, your dad messed up, and Regina…well, we're all doing our best to make this work; especially Neal.

And hey, they're not going to forget about you because they have a baby. Besides, I thought you wanted a baby sister? Isn't that what you're always begging for?"

"No, I want you and Emma to give me one," Henry muttered. "She won't forget about me if you did."

August pulled Henry into his lap and hugged him.

"Listen, kid. I can't promise Regina and Neal won't neglect you when this kid comes, okay?" He replied bluntly, knowing there was no sense in sugar coating things for Henry; he saw right through everything. "What I can tell you is that Regina loves you and Neal is trying to be a good dad and I think this just means you'll have a bigger family to love you.

What I can promise you is that I don't care if you're not my biological kid, you're my son. I love you, Emma loves you, and even if we had a dozen kids together, we'd still love you just as much as we loved them, maybe even more because you were here first.

And in either situation, you'll have younger siblings who will worship you."

He caught sight of tears before Henry hugged him back.

"I love you too, August."

"I know, kid."

August rubbed Henry's back and realized that he needed to take his own advice; leave it to the kid to make him see reason. He pulled away and ruffled Henry's hair.

"Come on kid, let's go find your mom and then go to grandpa's house, he and your grandma have some very interesting news for you."


End file.
